Finance minister's controversial decree

Finance minister's controversial decree

From Bisnis Indonesia

By the end of his office, the Minister of Finance issued a
decree that will surely make certain public circles delighted.
According to the minister, it was meant to assist the
economically weak community.

The decree allows up to 50 percent of principal debt reduction
besides exemption from loan interest and interest on fines,
particularly for the purpose of invigorating the sector of small-
and medium-scale businesses (UKM).

However, laymen will question why the decision is
retroactively effective, seemingly meant to justify previous
policies. Even a small debtor cannot easily get a repayment
period extension from a state bank, let alone such a haircut.

The other question arises whether the target of assistance is
truely the UKM community or the group of conglomerates, in view
of the fact that only a very small number of UKM units receive
bank loans worth billions of rupiah.

Therefore, everything in this case should be transparent so as
not to make the rescue of UKM an excuse for the decision, only to
inflict considerable loss to the state treasury.

TAUFIK KARMADI
Jakarta